The Senate is on the verge of confirming Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, a vote expected this afternoon as lawmakers race toward an early start to their two-week recess.
Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said late on Wednesday that the upper chamber will hold an initial vote on Jackson’s nomination at around 11 a.m. with a final confirmation vote at approximately 1:45 p.m., depending on how long senators want to speak, which appears to not be much. Lawmakers have grown eager for an early start to the spring recess or to make flights for codels set to leave later tonight (The Hill).
“We have reached an agreement for the Senate to conclude the confirmation process of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson tomorrow,” Schumer said on the Senate floor. “It will be a joyous day. Joyous for the Senate, joyous for the Supreme Court, joyous for America. … America tomorrow will take a giant step to becoming a perfect nation.”
© Associated Press / Jacquelyn Martin | Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, husband Dr. Patrick Jackson, daughter Leila, March 21.
As Fox News’ Chad Pergram notes, some senators may be acting with speed today to try to beat potential COVID-19 transmission inside the Capitol. Four House lawmakers who attended a weekend Washington dinner were among administration officials and journalists who tested positive for the coronavirus this week (more on that below). Assuming COVID-19 does not keep senators out of the Capitol today, 53, including three Republicans, say they plan to confirm Jackson to succeed retiring Justice Stephen Breyer, who will retire this summer.
Carl Hulse, The New York Times: The Senate is set to confirm Jackson. Here’s what to watch for.
John Kruzel, The Hill: How Supreme Court fights turned into warfare: a timeline.
From one congressional action that will happen by week’s end to one that will not, the $10 billion COVID-19 relief bill is set to remain dormant through the coming weeks after lawmakers were unable to reach a deal on a vote to reinstate Title 42 restrictions.
Senate Republicans have remained unified on the issue in recent days, and their bullishness has only increased as Democratic moderates and those facing tough reelection fights in November have come out against President Biden’s move to end Title 42. The Trump-era policy had been used to deny migrants’ asylum claims at the U.S.-Mexico border during the pandemic.
As The Hill’s Jordain Carney writes, the wave of opposition from both sides of the aisle has created a major issue for the administration and the party in power as they seek to end the stalemate and pass the relief package. Handing the GOP a vote would create headaches for some Senate Democrats, not to mention a tough vote. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), who faces a tough reelection fight this fall, has criticized the administration for the move, saying that it does not have an adequate strategy in place to deal with the likely surge of migrants in May once the restrictions are lifted but does not want to face a vote on this topic as part of the COVID-19 relief efforts.
“I don’t think it should have any amendments. I don’t think there should be any poison pills. I think we should move forward with the COVID package that will really prepare us to address any surge from a variant with the therapeutics that we need and with vaccines and prevention,” Cortez Masto told reporters in the Capitol on Wednesday, adding that she is unsure how she would vote on a possible amendment since there is no language yet.
This has given the GOP the ammo it has been looking for in a battle it thinks it can win against the administration.
“To expect the Republican Party to not challenge this stupid decision is unrealistic,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who acknowledged that he isn’t sure how this legislative tug-of-war ends. “I don’t either. They’re going to have to understand that the policy choices of the Biden administration are becoming increasingly more bizarre.”
Rebecca Beitsch and Rafael Bernal, The Hill: Vulnerable Senate Democrats undercut Biden on Title 42.
The Associated Press: COVID-19 spending bill stalls in Senate as GOP, Dems stalemate.
COVID-19 relief was not the only can that got kicked down the road in Washington on Wednesday as Biden extended the moratorium on federal student loan payments and interest accrual through August (The Hill).
The Hill: Five questions about Biden’s move on freezing student loans.
Finally, Schumer also added that the Senate will also vote today on a pair of bills to end normal trade relations with Russia and codify an oil ban (The Hill). The package would include two bills: one that would codify the administration’s oil ban and a second that would end permanent normal trade relations with Moscow and reauthorize Magnitsky Act sanctions that target human rights violations and corruption with penalties such as visa bans and asset freezes (The Hill).
The United States on Wednesday also moved to block foreign investment in Russia and state-owned enterprises and levied further sanctions on the country’s financial institutions and high-ranking officials (NBC News and The Hill).
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said global punishments aimed at Russia’s economy are working to isolate Moscow and President Vladimir Putin. “The sanctions cumulatively have put the Russian economy into a deep recession,” he told NBC News in an interview. “And what we’re seeing is a likely contraction of the Russian economy by about 15 percent. That is dramatic. … We’ve seen an exodus from Russia of virtually every major company in the world. And Putin, in the space of a matter of weeks, has basically shut down Russia to the world.”
Nevertheless, Blinken said, the war that began in February is likely to continue for “some time.”
Today, the 27-member European Union prepares to discuss another round of sanctions and a possible ban on Russian coal as part of its response to killings of civilians outside Kyiv. Russia has denied responsibility, although German intelligence is contradicting the denials after saying intercepted Russian radio conversations include soldiers discussing the killings in Bucha (The Washington Post and Der Spiegel).
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian forces are shifting tactics to attempt to move civilian corpses off streets and out of buildings in occupied territory, which he said will not conceal evidence of war crimes because of the mounting number of dead (The New York Times).
In eastern locations in Ukraine, civilians who have heard about the atrocities discovered in Bucha near Kyiv are trying to flee, and officials are encouraging them to act while they still have a chance against what they fear will soon be Moscow’s stepped-up attacks (The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal).
The Hill: Five things to know about the newest U.S. sanctions on Russia.
The Hill: There is a chasm between what Kyiv argues it needs to defeat Russia and what the West is willing to provide. The U.S. and Europe are focused on sanctions even as other Ukrainian allies have increased military support.
Blinken rejects criticism that U.S. and European contributions to Ukraine in terms of weaponry and military materiel are too small and too risk averse.
“Between the United States and other allies and partners, for every Russian tank in Ukraine, we have provided or will soon provide 10 anti-tank systems — 10 for every single Russian tank,” he told NBC. “In terms of what they need to act quickly and act effectively, to deal with the planes that are firing at them from the skies, the tanks that are trying to destroy their cities from the ground, they have the tools that they need. They’re going to keep getting them and we’re going to keep sustaining that.”
Much has been made of Russia’s military miscues but also its advanced weapons. Add a land mine equipped with sensors that can obliterate people when they walk nearby to a list that also includes Russian claims to have fired a hypersonic missile in Ukraine.
Ukrainian bomb technicians discovered such a device, called the POM-3, last week near the eastern city of Kharkiv, according to Human Rights Watch, a leading human rights group, which has reviewed photos provided by Ukraine’s military. The new weapon can distinguish between people and animals before detonation (The New York Times).
The POM-3 can be launched by a rocket and falls back to Earth by parachute before waiting on the ground. When the mine senses a person, it launches a small explosive warhead that detonates midair, producing fragments that are lethal up to about 50 feet away, according to reports.
➤ Ukrainian refugees are turning up daily at the U.S. southern border in Tijuana, Mexico, seeking entry to the U.S. because they can obtain a visa to travel to Mexico as tourists and then make their way to the San Ysidro port of entry, CBS News reported Wednesday. Volunteers helping them say about 150 Ukrainians a day have been allowed to enter the U.S. on a humanitarian basis — and more are coming.
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LEADING THE DAY
ADMINISTRATION: Months of war, supply shortages, price spikes and “enormous economic repercussions for the world” were features of Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s decidedly gloomy testimony on Wednesday to members of the House.
Russia’s attacks on Ukraine and civilian killings in Bucha warrant sustained sanctions and international collaboration to keep Russia cut off from the global financial system in retribution for its “brutal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine,” she told lawmakers. “It cannot be business as usual for Russia in any of the financial institutions” (CNBC).
The Hill: Yellen said the U.S. will not participate in meetings of the Group of 20 (G-20) developed and emerging nations if Russia is present. The secretary is expected to attend an April meeting of G20 finance ministers in Bali.
Biden has repeatedly said U.S. support for Ukraine is unwavering and economic pain for U.S. consumers, including inflated energy and consumer prices, is the unavoidable result of tough U.S. and Western sanctions against Russia.
At the same time Wednesday, the nation’s central bank made clear in minutes it released from a meeting last month that it will soon shrink the Federal Reserve’s bond balance sheet by $95 billion a month to try to cool down the U.S. economy and attempt to throttle 8 percent inflation. The Fed board also sounded inclined to approve future interest rate hikes of 50 basis points rather than the more gradual 25 (CNBC).
The Fed wants to tighten economic conditions to keep enough slack in employment to drive down inflation, which former New York Federal Reserve President William Dudley describes as hard to accomplish. “The chances of a soft landing are very, very low,” he told Bloomberg TV and Radio on Wednesday.
During a preview of political-finger pointing in a midterm election year, members of a House panel accused leading oil company CEOs on Wednesday of raising petroleum and fuel prices for profits to the detriment of U.S. families. “You are ripping the American people off,” said Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.).
When questioned, none of the company executives would commit to plowing revenues into increased production to expand supply and lower prices instead of reducing energy company dividends and share buybacks. They described a host of uncertainties in a boom-to-bust oil business (CNN).
“We can increase production and return value to shareholders,” Chevron CEO Mike Wirth said. BP America CEO David Lawler said he “can’t commit” to cutting buybacks and dividends.
The White House included oil company executives last month in an off-the-record briefing along with other industries to discuss the war in Ukraine and its global impacts, including on food and energy prices and supplies (Reuters).
The Hill: The administration said it used a classified intelligence briefing for lawmakers on Wednesday about the risks to national security of semiconductor supply shortages. Officials urged Congress to pass pending legislation known as the Competes Act, aim for a rapid conference and name conferees “this week.”
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said that the Competes Act is atop the to-do list once lawmakers return from a two-week recess later this month.
IN FOCUS/SHARP TAKES
MORE IN CONGRESS: The House voted Wednesday to hold Dan Scavino and Peter Navarro, two advisers to former President Trump, in contempt of Congress for defying subpoenas by the committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Lawmakers voted almost entirely along party lines, 220-203, with Reps. Liz Cheney (Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (Ill.), the two GOP members on the Jan. 6 select committee, being the only Republicans to support the resolution.
Navarro, an ex-trade adviser to Trump, and Scavino, Trump’s longtime social media aide, both defied subpoenas from the panel and refused to testify or provide documents. The ball is now in the hands of the Justice Department, which will decide whether to pursue charges against the two former White House staffers.
The Hill: Democrats unveil bill to impose ethics, recusal standards on Supreme Court.
Alexander Bolton, The Hill: Democrats make last-ditch effort to ban stock trading by lawmakers.
➤ Retirement corner: Rep. Bob Gibbs (R-Ohio) on Wednesday announced he will not seek another term in the House. In a statement, he said a new map that redrew his district is behind his decision amid a primary challenge from former Trump aide Max Miller, who has the 45th president’s backing. Early voting has begun in Ohio (The Hill).
OPINION
What comes after Putin? by David Lingelbach, opinion contributor, The Hill. https://bit.ly/3Kl5twc
Student loan forbearance — forever? by The Wall Street Journal editorial board. https://on.wsj.com/3O4M8lx
WHERE AND WHEN
The House meets at 9 a.m.
The Senate convenes at 9:30 a.m. and will resume consideration of the Jackson nomination. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will take part in a live conversation with Axios’s Jonathan Swan at 8:30 a.m.
The president and Vice President Harris receive the President’s Daily Brief at 10:15 a.m.
Blinken is in Brussels where he is participating in a G7 foreign ministers breakfast meeting this morning, a NATO foreign ministerial session, then an afternoon session focused on Russia and Ukraine. Later the secretary will meet with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, followed by a meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. Blinken will also hold an evening press availability.
The White House daily press briefing is scheduled at 1 p.m.
📺 Hill.TV’s “Rising” program features news and interviews at http://digital-staging.thehill.com/hilltv, on YouTube and on Facebook at 10:30 a.m. ET. Also, check out the “Rising” podcast here.
ELSEWHERE
➤ CORONAVIRUS: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that U.S. fatalities from COVID-19 have gradually fallen to an average of 533 a day. The total number of U.S. coronavirus fatalities as of this morning is 983,817, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker.
🔬Does the virus responsible for COVID-19 leave human cells forever changed, even in patients deemed to be “recovered” from initial infection? Is long COVID-19 a medical disability that should be eligible for federal benefits and protections? Perhaps, the administration suggests.
Biden has ordered a government-wide effort led by the Department of Health and Human Services to help Americans who suffer from a mysterious, chronic condition that afflicts roughly 1 out of 3 people who are said to be recovered from COVID-19 infection. Lingering and often debilitating symptoms can include brain fog, recurring shortness of breath, pain and fatigue. Onset of diabetes in some patients may be correlated with COVID-19 infection and is under study, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention affirmed on Tuesday (The Associated Press). … New research suggests SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, may trigger biochemical changes in a pain-transmitting structure called dorsal root ganglia, leaving recovering patients with lingering pain (Medical Press).
🦠 Infections:Congregating indoors and without masks could be falling out of favor again among some of Washington’s VIPs this spring.The vice president’s communications director, Jamal Simmons, tested positive for the coronavirus on Wednesday. “The Vice President will follow CDC guidance for those that have been in close contact with a positive individual and will continue to consult with her physician,” a spokeswoman said. “The Vice President plans to continue with her public schedule” (The Hill). Separately, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo tested positive for COVID-19, her staff announced. The Washington Post reported that Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) and Attorney General Merrick Garland also are on the list. They all attended last weekend’s Gridiron Dinner. About a half-dozen journalists as well as members of the White House and National Security Council staff tested positive after the event but were not identified by the Post because they did not make their health status public.… On Capitol Hill, Assistant House Speaker Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) and Rep. Scott Peters (D-Calif.) also separately announced positive test results (The Hill).
The Associated Press: U.S. experts met Wednesday to wrestle with how to update COVID-19 vaccines.
➤ COURTS: The Supreme Court on Wednesday reinstated an environmental regulation from the Trump administration that restricted the role states play in enforcing the Clean Water Act (The New York Times). The Trump-era regulation, which a federal court halted in October, limited states’ authority to block projects by giving them a strict one-year time limit. If states did not meet the time limit, the government could determine it effectively waived its veto power (The Hill). Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan dissented, objecting to the use of the court’s emergency docket to issue a significant ruling without broader consideration. … In Arizona, the state Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an effort by the state Republican Party to deem early voting unconstitutional (The Hill). Arizona has had flexible early voting since 1991 and mail-in voting has been the norm for years.
➤ TIGER & THE MASTERS: He’s back. Less than 15 months after a car accident almost resulted in an amputated limb, Tiger Woods is set to return to competitive golf this morning for the first round of the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club, home to five of his 15 major championships. Woods will tee off at 10:34 a.m., having drawn monster crowds earlier in the week just to watch him practice. For those financially inclined, Woods is 50-1 to win a sixth green jacket and +108 to make the cut (and -164 to miss it), according to FanDuel Sportsbook on Wednesday (ESPN). Topping the list of favorites heading into Round 1 are Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, Cameron Smith, Scottie Scheffler (the world No. 1 golfer) and Dustin Johnson, the 2020 Masters champion.
THE CLOSER
And finally … It’s Thursday, which means it’s time for this week’s Morning Report Quiz! Inspired by opening day, we’re eager for some smart guesses about the coming 2022 baseball season.
Email your responses to asimendinger@digital-staging.thehill.com and/or aweaver@digital-staging.thehill.com, and please add “Quiz” to subject lines. Winners who submit correct answers will enjoy some richly deserved newsletter fame on Friday.
Which of the following forthcoming rule changes will be implemented during the 2022 MLB season?
1. Rosters set at 25 players
2. Automatic strike zone
3. Universal designated hitter
4. Relief pitchers must pitch to at least three batters
Which of the listed players is on a new team this season?
1. Freddie Freeman
2. Max Scherzer
3. Carlos Correa
4. All of the above
How many days did the MLB lockout last?
1. 81
2. 89
3. 99
4. 105
Which active player has the highest lifetime batting average?
1. Mike Trout
2. Miguel Cabrera
3. Albert Pujols
4. Joey Votto
© Associated Press / Ross D. Franklin | MLB baseballs.
Morning Report journalists Alexis Simendinger and Al Weaver can be reached at asimendinger@digital-staging.thehill.com and aweaver@digital-staging.thehill.com. Send us a message and/or SUBSCRIBE!